Isabel Hardman is assistant editor of The Spectator and author of Why We Get the Wrong Politicians. She also presents Radio 4’s Week in Westminster.
Boris Johnson’s new No. 10 hires have given him a chance to catch his breath, very briefly, from the turmoil of the past week. But it’s worth noting that the plot has always thickened as a result of something the Prime Minister himself has done, rather than the mistakes or otherwise of his team. Guto
This week, Michael Gove’s lengthy Levelling Up white paper talked about the ancient city of Jericho. This was largely because of its size and natural irrigation, but perhaps the Biblical story of the city’s walls falling might be more fitting given the state of Downing Street. The response in the Conservative party to not one
Boris Johnson’s day has just got considerably worse after Rishi Sunak distanced himself from the Prime Minister in a Downing Street press conference. The Chancellor pitched himself as the person focusing on the things voters actually worry about — unlike his boss. Sunak’s press briefing was on the cost of living crisis and specifically what
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While Westminster politicians and journalists alike continue to predict exactly how many letters of no confidence in Boris Johnson have been officially filed. Michael Gove’s levelling up white paper has finally arrived. A bizarre document that references many ancient cites and how they ‘levelled up’, but does it propose any tangible solutions on how to
Today’s PMQs suggests that some of the immediate heat has gone the partygate crisis, if only temporarily. Sir Keir Starmer did not make all his questions about parties, instead widening out his attacks to Conservative tax policy. The faces of most of his backbenchers froze as he doubled down, saying that Starmer had apologised for
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While Boris Johnson’s performance in the Common’s yesterday was seen broadly as tone deaf – thanks to comments about Jimmy Savile and drug-taking on the Labour front bench – he was given a chance to redeem himself at a private meeting with his party yesterday evening. ‘One of my favourite questions was when one 2019
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The long anticipated Sue Gray report was finally published today albeit lacking significant chucks of detail. Following the report, Boris Johnson made a statement in the Commons. Though he apologised at the beginning, his tone did not seem particularly apologetic, which clearly riled a number of MPs across party lines. ‘The discomfort among the Tory benches
That Boris Johnson regards the Gray update as an opportunity to come up for air was very clear from his statement on the report in the Commons. The Prime Minister’s opening remarks struck what seemed to be a reasonable balance between apologising, offering some operational changes to No. 10 (to show he was taking the
Sue Gray’s report on the lockdown partying in Downing Street is short. Just 11 pages. Early on, it makes clear that the police are investigating all but four of them, which makes this an ‘update’. Gray avoids making a judgement on whether the gatherings were a breach of the regulations and guidance in place at
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Whilst everyone waits for the Sue Gray report, all eyes turn to the next scandal: Pen Farthing’s animal rescue operation out of Afghanistan. It has been revealed that Boris Johnson’s parliamentary private secretary, Trudy Harrison contacted a jet hire company in an attempt to secure a plane to evacuate the pets. The PM has responded
Given the extraordinarily low expectations, Prime Minister’s Questions went reasonably well for Boris Johnson today. That is partly because it was a pointless session: everyone is waiting for the publication of the Sue Gray report, so most likely it will be forgotten very quickly and will make no difference to the main event (whenever that comes). Most
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The latest in the scandal of Downing Street parties points to the Prime Minister’s own birthday, where a gathering took place in the Cabinet Office. Whilst this has been played off by a Downing Street spokesperson as being on ‘the edges of a work event’. Cressida Dick announced this morning that events at No.10 during
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As the Prime Minister has a stay of execution after the pork pie plot came to nothing, today allegations are flying that Tory whips have been using unsavoury methods to threaten wavering MPs into line. Christian Wakeford, the newly defected Labour MP to Bury South, says that whips threatened to withdraw funding from a local
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Last night rumours were flying around Westminster that letters of no confidence from Tory MPs were pouring in and Boris might be leaving sooner rather than later. But with the surprising crossing of the aisle by MP for Bury South, Christian Wakeford, it appears that old party tribalism may have stayed some hands. ‘While a
You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist who mutters regularly about ‘sheeple’ to find the timing of Boris Johnson’s latest Covid update rather suspicious. This afternoon, he followed his dramatic Prime Minister’s Questions session with an announcement about the end of restrictions which had been introduced to slow the spread of the Omicron variant.
Today’s PMQs was as dramatic as you might expect. It began with the spectacle of Bury South MP Christian Wakeford being cheered as he crossed the floor to the Labour benches. Sir Keir Starmer was in a joyful mood, as you might also expect. What was striking was how energised Boris Johnson was in his
In the past few minutes Boris Johnson’s Red Wall has started to crumble in a more dramatic way than he thought possible. Christian Wakeford, the Conservative MP for Bury South, is defecting to the Labour party, having previously submitted a vote a letter calling for a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister. Wakeford
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Tory MPs have just returned from their constituencies after a weekend of persuading voters to support their party in the May local elections. It’s not just the public that is angry, the local associations are equally outraged at the scandals that have marred the first month of 2022. Those around Boris Johnson are planning ‘Operation Red Meat’ which
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Boris Johnson has finally commented on the accusations of a Downing Street garden party held in the first lockdown. Yet his defence – ‘I believed implicitly that this was a work event’ – has satisfied nobody. On the episode, James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman give their verdict. ‘When I started my career I spent a
Boris Johnson has just made his leadership crisis worse at PMQs. As expected, he started the session with an apology to the public, saying ‘I know the rage they feel with me and with the government I lead’. This sounded promising, but things quickly went downhill, and that was before the questions had even started.